The wandering thoughts of a mother, wife, sister, daughter, friend, volunteer and crazy dog lady.
Come, sit, have a cup of tea with a smidge of dog hair, while I talk kids, dogs, horses, 4-H, legislation and well, just anything else that jumps out at me.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

I'm confused

Then again, that's kind of normal for me. I have a hard time figuring people out. Friend, foe? Enemy, allie? Consencious, Fly by night?

Here's my lastest. Why do people set up a certain set of rules for themselves and then choose to impose another set of totally different ones on others? The whole "do as I say, not as I do", or "Holier then thou" phrase comes to mind.

Let's translate this to dogs, since many of you who read this are dog people. I know that due to some circumstances, that many people have sticking points on what they breed to or don't-health, temperament, conformation. Some dogs have to have a perfect head or great tail set, all health tests or have to have tons of obedience titles in their pedigree. But what I just am having the hardest time dealing with is rants by breeders against other breeders, when they themselves have done the same damn thing. IE bred to a dog that has multiple health issues and yet when someone else breeds to a dog that could be in the same classification-ie same health issue, that breeder is racked over the coals for breeding irresponsibly. How are they granted the license to do it when they have no idea what is making the choice for the other breeder to do a breeding along the same exact characteristics?

The other thing that is just confusing the hell out of me, is when another breeder in order to put forth the front of being totally in the right, omits facts. The sin of omission is the exact same thing as lying. As in the whole army line-don't ask, don't tell? So by not saying anything, you are protecting only yourself from harm. Now I must add that it also takes a little responsiblity on the other person's part to ask the right questions-as in Kim's line--If only you would ask me directly, I can't lie, I'll tell you the truth. But in the end, it's the breeder's responsiblity to be upfront, honest and realistic to those that they deal with. Hiding the health status of a relative of a dog you own, interrpeting test results to make a dog look better then they are or even telling perspective puppy owners-oh it's not an issue, when in fact, two years down the road it's a serious one. How does that make them a better breeder?

Oh one more, how about those of us with multiple breeds? Do you impose the same genetic, conformation, and temperment standards on both breeds? Or use the old line of "it's not in the lines or it's not an issue in the breed?" Why is it okay to belittle one breeder for their breeding criteria, when you yourself waiver all over the board, having one set of standards for this breed/breeding, then change it for this or that breed/breeding?

Bottom line is this, we all have our reasons for doing what we do. To berate others who do not assign themselves to your beliefs serves no purpose other then feeding your own ego. Hiding on top of that "holier then thou" pedestal only makes you a better target to fall off it sooner.